Understanding Indigenous Cultural Practices around Hiti

Alko Hiti, Ikkhache tol, Lalitpur

Prasamsa Pokharel
Pokharelprasamsa@gmail.com

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 Acknowledgement

I would like to express sincere gratitude to Avni Center for Sustainability for recognizing my effort
to work as a indigenous knowledge fellow. I am humbly indebted towards my family members and
my friends who have been this supporting and caring. I appreciate the mentoring session organized
by ACS. I was introduced to beautiful place ‘Alko Hiti’ in the heart of lalitpur. I wish to spend the
leisure time in such a beautiful place. Thanks to all new people whom I met in the Alko Hiti
complex.

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Introduction
According to the Prof. Tiwari, Stone spout or Dhugedhara in Nepali or Hi-Ti in Nepal Bhasa is the
utilitarian structure constructed for the use of common man. The system uses gravity to transport
water through ponds, canals, aquifers, storage tank, infiltration, conduits. The history of stoned
water conduits ( dhungedharas, lon-hiti) dates back to the Lichchhavi Period. They consist of
intricately carved conduits which the water flows throughout the year. These structure primarily
posses social, architectural, and religious values (S. Shrestha, 2014). The hiti not only performed
the sustainable water supply role but also functioned as a social place. Most of the hitis in
Kathmandu Valley are located with other sculpture and shrines along with pati and pokhari. These
carries ancient traditions and practices. Hence, the indigenous knowledge to be documented is about
the cultural practices involved in the hiti complex. Stone spouts are culturally important for people
who identify themselves as a Newar. The complex where the stone spouts are located was
significantly religious site for Buddhists and Hindus, as evident by the icons of god and guardians
in surrounding spouts. The hiti and it’s surrounding structure are intricately carved with the animals,
gods and goddesses that it carries the layers of settlement history and its indigenous practices.

The concept of water flowing through stone spouts is found to be built all over Nepal, especially
along the Mahabharat range. But the Hiti built around the complex along the other iconic structure
is exclusive in the Kathmandu Valley. As of now, there are altogether 389 functioning stone spouts
situated across the Kathmandu Valley (NGOFUWS, 2006). The modern development and facilities
have affected the use of Hiti as utilitarian and culturally.

Objectives:
Following are the objective of the study of indigenous cultural practices around alko Hiti;
● To document of the tangible and intangible heritage connected with the Hiti complex
● To documents Alko hiti complex master plan and locate the components and its significance.
● To understand the use of traditional public space in the urbanscape.

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Community and Indigenous Knowledge:
The community documented is identified as the Newar community. It lies in the Ikkhache tol, Ward
No.11 of Lalitpur metropolitan city of Lalitpur district in Bagmati province. The history of Alko hiti
dates back to the 13th century, 542 years ago and has been evolving since then. The hiti is
surrounded by various religious components such as Narayan temple, Shiva temple, Ganesh temple,
etc. This is the only hiti complex where all the underground and overground components needed to
operate the hiti is present within the premises.
Due to development of piped water system and negligence of concerned authority, the community
led hiti to be the non-operational condition for many years until 2003 AD when the locals came up
with an innovative method to revive the traditional source of the hiti, to collect the surplus water
from it and then distribute it among the locals in a systematic way. After revival and renovation of
the hiti complex, the indigenous knowledge has been successfully implemented by the community.
According to Hiti expert Sushil Shrestha, this was the second time hiti was ever renovated in over
542 years.
The Hiti complex not only serves the purpose of water distribution but also functions to enhance
community engagement persevering intangible heritage. However, due to the modern water supply
system installed at each houses and distribution of hiti water to individual houses through pipes, the
daily engagement in the hiti complex is decreased. The older generation’s lifestyle is also affected
with this.

Nature of the Indigenous Knowledge

The knowledge of cultural practices among the Newari community around hiti is well known to
those who are associated with them as it is communally held. The knowledge is transmitted by the
practice of the family. There are many similar Hiti complex around the Kathmandu valley such as
Manga hiti, nagbahal etc which is also successful in carrying the cultural practices and acting as a
public space at the same time. However, Every hiti and its complex are one of their kind and has
unique feature and significant character.

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Details of the Indigenous Practice
To study the Alko hiti complex, the site is measured and each components are located in the
drawing. Components significant character is then interviewed with the locals.

Figure 1 Master plan of Alko Hiti

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Each components of Alko Hiti premises and its description are listed below:

S.N Name Description

.
1. Hiti Complex Daily worship in the morning, utilitarian area. It is the only
Hiti complex to have all the components needed to operate the
hiti with both underground and overground structures.
2. Pati (Locally; Falcha) Built about 542 years ago. Traditionally, built as a rest rooms
for long distance travelers. At present, it is used to hold
meetings and community discussions.
3. Pokhari Lies in the northern side of the hiti complex. Built to maintain
water management around hiti complex. Surplus water from
hiti drains out to pokhari and passes to farming land.
4. Chaur It lies on the eastern side of the hiti which sits entirely on the
underground reservoir, above that, the space is used to
perform recreation activities mostly in the mornings.
5. Alko hiti samrachana It holds an accountability for all the hiti related activities and
samiti is responsible for distribution of the surplus water from hiti to
the households.

Hiti Complex components and its description are listed below:

S.N Name Description

.
A. Alko Hiti With total of 5 streams in the complex (3 big streams, 2 smalls
streams), it is the drinking water source. 3 of them being 4.5ft depth
and 6 inches wide is intensively carved with crocodile, snake,
mongoose to tribute the reptiles and insects for unclogging the ground
water. It has with the statue of bhagirathi at the bottom secured by
Pancha Buddha at the top of the hiti. Around 6,00,000 ltr of water
flows in 24hr among which daily 6hrs of water is distributed to the
individual houses of the area. Still, every morning, locals come here to
get the Chakra Paani (Water used for worshiping god). The hiti water
dries in the winter for 6 months.

B. Alko Ganesh It is one of the important temple of the complex. It is worshiped daily
and importantly on Tuesdays. The Temple is carved as any other
Newari architecture with similar construction method. It is famous for
the occasion of samaybaji in Indra Jatra.
C. Narayan Temple It is shikhara style temple worshiped daily in the morning. It has its
significant on Narayanthan mela held on Kartik

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D. Amitabha Buddha It is recent addition to the temple complex made with modern
materials like concrete and pigmented colors. It is frequently
worshiped by Buddhist especially on Buddha Jayanti
E Shiva Mandir Structure enclosed with the shivalinga, is worshiped daily.

F Chaitya This is believed to be built in the memory of a deceased family

member for the accumulation of merit by the deceased, by the member
of surviving generation, and by all sentiment creatures. The shrine
contains carved inscriptions that address the sacred object directly and
give information about the donor and the year of its creation.
G. Bidhya Dhare It is the one of the statue along with saraswoti, buddha placed on the
wall niches
H.. Saraswoti It is the statue placed on the wall niches and worshiped on Sri
Panchami.
I. Buddha It is in the wall niches and worshiped on the day of buddha jayanti.

J. Mahadev It is in the northern corner of the complex separated by bushes. It has

shivalinga in the center of the structure and is worshiped daily by
locals.
K. Pancha Buddha These are the 5 carved structures represents five different qualities of
Shakyamuni Buddha.
L. Tettiskoti Deuta These are total of 15 statues placed along the wall in niches. People
who come in the complex for Chakra paani worships all these statues.

Among all the cultural practices performed by the community, Sithi Nakha is the significant
traditional practices carried out in the hiti complex. This is one of the important festivals in Newar
community which is celebrated annually on the sixth day of bright fortnight of Jestha. The festival
is celebrated in honor of Kumar, The Shasthi. People worship the Pikhalakhu (A place outside the
household) by drawing Mandap resembling kumar. It also marked the beginning of monsoon. On
this day, People clean the nearby water resources such as hiti, ponds, wells etc. Hence, the major
event on this occasion is held on the Hiti Complex.

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Utility of the Indigenous Knowledge

The hiti carry a major role in cultural and social aspects since it is a place for various festivals. The
place holds contemporary functions such as a place for bathing, a place for religious functions, a
place for ritual workshops, etc. These spouts are rooted in a specific context, bearing natural and
cultural responsibilities. The hiti complex function as a public heritage in the middle of competing
demands on public space. Historically rural, Nepal has been urbanizing rapidly over the last several
decades, with the Kathmandu Valley at the heart of this trend. Unplanned urban development in the
Kathmandu Valley has led to the sprawl and loss of open space, and encroachment or outright
destruction of Hiti and its complex . In response, these monumental structure should be documented
and built to create a similar public space in the Kathmandu valley to revive the indigenous lifestyle
and engagement within the locality. This also uplifts the religious importance of a place.

The study shows that the importance of blue green infrastructure is highly developed by ancient
time. This rare public space in densely populated area serves multiple functions and the water
conduit still functional today with a bare repairment is the example of sustainable development. The
documentation might help to restore similar endangered hiti complex around Kathmandu valley.
Hiti, if restored, can provide an affordable water supply through locally sourced drinking water. The
construction material of hiti is earthy and creates the sense of their place with the increase in the
importance of spaces around it and enhances community engagement. Hiti also possesses an
important role for natural methods of water filtration and distribution as it is completely based on
gravity through the ecological cycle between rajkulo, ponds, hiti, infiltration, etc. with the
supporting factors like snakes, mongoose, frogs that keeps the underground process naturally
unclogged. To know the value of the traditional water supply system and the impact of spaces
around it in our daily life is the path for achieving sustainability.

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 Photo Gallery

Image 1 From the left: Panchabuddha, Hiti (at the bottom), Shiva Temple, Narayan Temple, Votive chaitya

Image 2 Hiti surrounding with the Pancha Buddha at the front

Image 3 Girls enjoying hiti stream

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 Image 4 Alko Ganesh Temple

Image 5 Intricately carved tudal of Alko Ganesh

Image 6 Various sculpture placed in wall niches

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Image 7 Image showing pati in the background

Image 8 Pokhari

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References
 Joshi, Jharna. (2015). Preserving the Hiti, Ancient Spout System of Nepal. The Threads of Conservation.
Retrieved from https://www.aicomos.com/wp-content/uploads/Preserving-the-Hiti-Ancient-Water-
Spout-System-of-Nepal-full-paper.pdf

 Shrestha, Subik (2014). Understanding sustainability of the traditional water conduits of the kathmandu
valley through the lens of deep beauty. 1-4. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/12932242/Understanding_Sustainability_of_the_Traditional_Water_Conduit
s_of_the_Kathmandu_Valley_through_the_lens_of_Deep_Beauty

 Brush, Chase ( August 19, 2019). Kathmandu Valley’s stone spouts were once gushing with water. Now
they’re slowly disappearing. Kathmandu Post. Retrieved from
https://kathmandupost.com/lalitpur/2019/08/17/kathmandu-valley-s-stone-spouts-were-once-gushing-
with-water-now-they-re-slowly-disappearing?fbclid=IwAR0i-
cbsGXF_Y_oD3HncY1bkAujhjXbBthoj93SPsXCeN-jLpjAy27JfKAs

 Tiwari, Sudarshan Raj ( 2002) The Pit Conduit Water Supply System of Kathmandu (VAASTU vol 4,
May 2002)

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Thank You

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